The chief of a children's charity has called for 'compassion' for children in care after some Oldham residents objected to a care home.

Katharine Sacks Jones, CEO of the national charity for children in care and young people leaving care, Become, said she read neighbours' objections to a new children's care home with "sadness and dismay".

The Glen Road home, which was given the green light by Oldham Council last week, will cater to three youngsters as well as their carers to provide them with safety, security and around-the-clock care.

The children's home is designed to be a 'home away from home' for the children who will be rehabilitated back into a family setting, whether with their own families or with foster families.

However, two neighbours publicly objected to the plans.

A grandfather said he was concerned by the so-called "behavioural issues" of the youngsters in care which, he felt, could pose a "threat" to residents and his own grandchildren.

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Another said he feared children would be unable to play outside in the area "for fear of being exposed to young people with challenging behaviours".

In his list of concerns, he cited child sexual assault, arson, verbal and physical abuse, property damages and the potential for the young people to go missing which he claimed would disrupt the community.

In response to the negative comments, Ms Jones has encouraged Oldhamers to open their arms to the vulnerable children with "kindness, compassion and friendship".

She added: "Care-experienced children are still children - and all children need love, kindness and stability to thrive.

"Children in the care system have often faced significant trauma, abuse or neglect before being removed from their families. This is not their fault."

The chief said children's care homes are meant to be a haven and a place where they can recover - "a place of safety, stability and kindness".

"But sadly, for far too many children, it's not.

"To then go through life facing the stigma and rejection of being in care is yet another barrier they face."

The charity started three decades ago as a magazine by a group of social workers to give advice to children in care and to "let them know that there were people out there that cared about them".

READ MORE: Oldham children's care home approved, despite objections

Now, Become speaks up for children in care, campaigns to change the system and provides much-needed services.

It warned that there are record numbers of children in care with more than 82,000 across the country yet a stark lack of suitable places, such as children's homes or foster homes.

Ms Jones continued: "As a result, children are being moved from home to home, often multiple times a year, and sometimes hundreds of miles away.

"Imagine the impact that would have on your own child: to move away from everything that's familiar, often without warning, and adapt to a different home, different carer, different school - without knowing how long you'll be there for.

"This is what the children we work with experience over and over again."

She then turned to address the objectors and encouraged people in Oldham to write to their local MP, rather than respond to planning application's children's homes, "to ask why more isn't being done to give all children in care the loving and supportive homes they need to heal and thrive".

"The stigma care-experienced children and young people face, due to circumstances entirely out of their control, is unacceptable. 

"Care-experienced young people deserve to love and be loved by their local communities.

"Children in care are parented by the state, in truth they are all our children.

"If a child in care doesn't receive love, at the very least they should receive kindness", she added.